1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remotely controllable lock that may be operated by either a manual mode or a remote-control mode for controlling extension/retraction of the latch bolt to thereby close/open the door.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,047 to Lin issued on Sep. 5, 1995 discloses a dead bolt including an outer lever and an inner lever, a coil disposed in the outer sleeve, a rod slidably engaged in the coil and having two extensions, a shaft coupled between the two levers, and a disc engaged on the shaft and having two grooves for engaging with the extensions of the rod. The extensions of the rod are biased away from the grooves of the disc such that the shaft cannot be rotated by the outer lever, and the rod is caused to move toward the disc when the coil is energized such that the extensions of the rod are caused to engage with the grooves of the disc and such that the shaft can be rotated by the outer lever. Such a structure is complicated. In addition, unlocking from outside is troublesome as the extensions of the rod must be pushed to engage with the grooves of the disc within the energizing time that awaits input of signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,612 to Lin issued on May 16, 2000 discloses a remotely controllable lock including a housing, a motor mounted in the housing, and a control device mounted in the housing for activating the motor. A gear train is mounted in the housing and driven by an output shaft of the motor and has a drive gear. A turn knob has an axle rod extended through an axle tube mounted to the housing. The axle rod is engaged with a driving member for driving a dead bolt of the door lock. When the turn knob is manually turned through a pre-determined angle, the movable plate is moved from a first position representing one of a locked status and an unlocked status of the dead bolt to a second position representing the other one of the locked status and the unlocked status without actuating the drive gear. When the control means receives a signal from remote control that requests a change in the status of the dead bolt, the movable plate is moved by the drive gear from one of the first position and the second position to the other of the first position and the second position, and the turn knob is turned through the pre-determined angle.
The present invention is intended to provide a remotely controllable lock that may be operated by either a manual mode or a remote-control mode.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a remotely controllable lock that may be operated by either a manual mode or a remote-control mode for controlling extension/retraction of the latch bolt to thereby close/open the door.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a remotely controllable lock that includes a protective mechanism for immediately stopping motions when under an external or abnormal resistance, thereby preventing damage to the lock.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a remotely controllable lock that can be easily converted for use with either a right-handed door or a left-handed door.
A remotely controllable lock in accordance with the present invention comprises:
a main housing comprising a power element mounted therein, the power element being operably controlled via a wire control unit, the power element including a transmission element for outputting power, the main housing further including a turn knob rotatably mounted thereto, the turn knob comprising an axle rod with a non-circular hole through which a spindle of the remotely controllable lock extends, the main housing including a first receiving hole, the axle rod further including a non-circular portion on an outer periphery thereof;
a power device comprising two slide block, a shaft including two ends pivotally connected to the slide blocks, respectively, the shaft further including a relatively larger gear and a relatively smaller gear mounted thereon, the relatively larger gear meshing with the transmission element;
a control device comprising a control gear that is rotatably mounted to the axle rod of the turnknob, the control gear meshing with the relatively smaller gear of the power device, the control gear comprising a positioning block and an eccentric actuating block, the control device further including a movable plate that has a vertical slot for receiving the axle rod, thereby allowing the movable plate to be movable along a vertical axis of the axle rod, the movable plate including a rack, a sector-toothed gear being mounted around the non-circular portion of the axle rod to rotate therewith, the sector-toothed gear meshing with the rack, the movable plate further including a pressing rod that is capable of coming in contact with a switch; and
a fixing plate secured to the main housing and comprising a second receiving hole, one of the slide blocks being received in the first receiving hole of the main housing and the other of the slide blocks being received in the second receiving hole of the fixing plate, each said slide block being biased by an elastic element, one of the slide blocks including a stub extended beyond an associated one of the first receiving hole and the second receiving hole, the stub being capable of coming in contact with a first sensor to send out a signal for stopping the power element, the fixing plate further including an axle hole for rotatably supporting the axle rod and through which the spindle extends for driving a dead bolt of the remotely controllable lock;
whereby when the control gear rotates, the actuating block comes in contact with one of the upper pressing block and the lower pressing block of the movable plate so as to make the positioning block come in contact with a second sensor to send out a signal for stopping the power element.
Other objects, specific advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and preferable embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.